BEIRUT — Lebanese President
Michel Aoun said on
Tuesday there should be no preconditions for talks with Israel over their
Mediterranean border dispute, key to Lebanon’s hopes to find gas reserves amid
its worst economic crisis since its 1975-1990 civil war.
اضافة اعلان
Negotiations between the old foes were launched in October
to try to resolve the dispute, which has held up exploration in the potentially
gas-rich area, yet the talks have since stalled.
A statement by the Lebanese presidency issued after the
resumption of talks on Tuesday said the US mediator had asked for negotiations
to be on the basis of Israeli and Lebanese border lines already submitted and
registered with the United Nations.
“This is against the Lebanese position,” the statement said.
“President Aoun has given his instructions to the
negotiating team that talks should not be tied to any preconditions and should
rely on international law that will remain the basis for reaching a fair
solution.”
The earlier talks stalled after each side presented
contrasting maps outlining proposed borders that actually increased the size of
the disputed area.
Israel already pumps gas from huge offshore fields. Lebanon,
which has yet to find commercial gas reserves in its own waters, is desperate
for cash from foreign donors.
Tuesday’s statement did not make clear when the next session
of the talks, which are taking place at a UN peacekeepers’ base in Lebanon’s
Naqoura, will take place.
One official Lebanese source told Reuters the meetings would
continue on Wednesday with Lebanon asking for them to be on the basis of an
additional area, not the one registered originally at the United Nations.
Since the talks stalled, Lebanon’s caretaker prime minister
and ministers of defense and public works approved a draft decree which would
expand Lebanon’s claim.
Read more
region & world
.jpg)
.jpg)
